Valtteri Bottas: No need for Mercedes team orders yet

Valtteri Bottas says it's too early for Mercedes to ask him to play a supporting role to Lewis Hamilton in this year's world championship.

But the Finn has admitted he would accept any such instruction from Mercedes if he falls further behind in the title race.

A disappointing performance at Spa last weekend, when he finished a distant fifth, has seen Bottas fall 41 points behind Sebastian Vettel and 34 adrift of team-mate Hamilton.

"It always goes race by race and depending on the situation. But the gap between me and Lewis in points is not massive," Bottas said.

"There are still eight races left which means there are still 200 points possible to get.

Mercedes and Ferrari neck and neck at Monza

"As a driver, I think we still need to go a little bit further into the season. It is theoretically still in my hands. If l qualify well and l race well then everything is ok.

"But if for some reason l am behind then later in the season l would be ready to help if the team decides. But l don't want to think about it at this point. I just need to perform."

Hamilton yielded third place to Bottas at the Hungarian GP just before the summer break and the team have insisted throughout the season they would treat both drivers equally.

"I've not spoken to the team about that," said Hamilton at Monza when asked if he expected Bottas to assume a supporting act. "That's not my job. We have good people leading the team."

But Vettel's pre-eminence at Ferrari over Kimi Raikkonen has presented Mercedes with an awkward predicament with team boss Toto Wolff admitting at Spa that a change in team philosophy may be required.

"It's something we have given a lot of thought over the last couple of weeks," said Wolff. "The answer is, we would like to keep our options open because every race you cannot plan for all scenarios. It always comes differently to how you expect and at Ferrari, Sebastian is very much in front point-wise so it is clear Kimi is going to back him.

"It has not been part of our philosophy the last couple of years but we will be looking at each situation during the race and what it means for the Drivers' Championship and the Constructors' Championship."

Vettel, meanwhile, has denied team orders are in operation at Ferrari despite Raikkonen twice being denied seemingly-likely victories at Hungary and Monaco this season.

"I am a bit surprised by the way things are put," said the championship leader. "Kimi and myself, I think we have been racing each other all year. I read or I heard after the Hungarian Grand Prix that he was protecting me. I think if you speak to him he can make it pretty clear. He was, how can I say, I don't think he was leaving anything behind.

"I don't know what other teams are doing, but for us, I think we both go flat out and see what happens."

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